doesn't either imply two objects. one or the other? either or? this chicks neck is more then a little bit red. if her bangs went any further back on her head, she's so have a mullet.
[via super fast kel]
Friday, January 30, 2004
I updated my 404 page....
This is an old script I did when I worked for globalpointdata.com. Click HERE or go to any "bad" url on my domain to get my new 404 page.
This is an old script I did when I worked for globalpointdata.com. Click HERE or go to any "bad" url on my domain to get my new 404 page.
A 56-foot sperm whale's insides lie strewn about after its belly burst due to decomposition while being transported to the National Cheng Kung University in Tainan in southern Taiwan on January 26, 2004. The whale ran aground and died on a beach in the southwestern county of Yunlin on January 17. (Taiwan Apple daily via Reuters)
Voting Machines Compromised in Election Simulation
Posted by Rebecca Bolin on Thursday, January 29 @ 17:51:52 EST
RABA Technologies, at the request of the state of Maryland, has issued a report about the state’s Diebold voting systems, ATM-style DRE terminals using smart cards for voter access. The report criticizes in detail the methodology and assumptions of other security audits and the vague security guidelines issued by the FEC, state, and NIST.
Eight security experts held a Red Team exercise on January 19, using a GEMS server and six AccuVote-TS terminals, replicating an election scenario with no prior knowledge of source code. As suggested by the earlier, Hopkins report, the team quickly guessed the hardcoded passwords to administrator and voter smart cards. At a cost of less than $750, they were able to reset voter cards to allow multiple votes with the same card and suggested similar abuses with forged supervisor and voter cards. All 32,000 statewide terminal locks are identical, and the team picked them in less than 10 seconds, allowing physical access to the PCMCIA bay, which contains cards for the modem and the ballot definitions and results. These cards could be tampered with, destroyed, or stolen for their valuable data. Attaching a keyboard to the terminals allowed resetting of all counters in the PCMCIA bay without an administrator card needed.
The server was missing over fifteen Microsoft security updates, and the team was able to use the flaws used by the "Blaster" worm. By using insecure USB ports or more secure CD drives, the team was able to modify results and databases “at will.” The report contains a more detailed analysis of these flaws, as well as many others. The responses of several groups are in the New York Times.
The RABA report demands immediate improvements for primaries and upcoming elections, including precinct specific passwords, tamper-resistant tape on secure locations, limits on administrator card and modem use, changing server accounts, and major software changes and updates for terminals and servers. RABA suggests that these improvements are mandatory to eliminate the need for voter-verified paper ballots, but that a paper record might still be needed.
[via LawMeme]
Thursday, January 29, 2004
I like bit bots and I cannot lie. Although ask me and I'll prolly deny (it).
letsghetiton21: hi... ahyone there?
Rizzn: yeup
letsghetiton21: oh your there hi...
Rizzn: howdy. who be this?
letsghetiton21: a/s/l (age sex location)?
Rizzn: 25/m/fl
letsghetiton21: imm 27/f/USA. was lookin at your profile. thought you might like to chat.
letsghetiton21: so wwhat have you been up to dork_digler?
Rizzn: nothing. hey, can you message me tomorrow? I gotta go takea shower.
letsghetiton21: cool. i was just hangin out watching tv. i as getting kinda horny (*blushes)
Rizzn: ah, okay, whatever. you're a bot.
letsghetiton21: bot? whats that? some kinda insult or something?
Rizzn: i dunno. is it insulting to be called a bot? would you prefer a more P.C. term like chatterbox AI?
letsghetiton21: feel like a little cyber fun with me ? please please....
Rizzn: well, yeah, i was just talking about cybersex with androids this evening. ... but i gotta go take a shower.
letsghetiton21: oh you mean one of those auto talk things or something right.. lol. well if you were in my apartment right now id lift up my skirt for you aand i think youd be convinced real quick
letsghetiton21: alright how bout i get down on my knees in front of you and help yyou out of your pants?
Rizzn: well, no, i wasn't talking about those autotalk things. i was talking about androids. an android is like a robot, but it simulates human behavior and speech patterns.
Rizzn: listen, i really must go. i have work in the morning.
letsghetiton21: tell me what you want me to do withh you while i slip out of my panties
letsghetiton21: oh no not work... thats a 4 letter word you know..
Rizzn: well, maybe. can you could tell me the capital of suriname?
letsghetiton21: mmaybe you shouldnt ask so many questions
Rizzn: I like my babe-bots to have brains.
Rizzn: Smarterchild knows the capital of suriname. But I think smarterchild is a guy. I don't swing that way, even for bots.
letsghetiton21: oh yeah babe.. dont stop. while i slide my hand down betwern my legs and part my moist lips
Rizzn: wow. my ex used to get turned on when i talked geeky. i didn't know it worked on bots, too. Note to self ...
letsghetiton21: oh it feels so good. Im holding your pulsing cock in my hand, my shiny red fingernails dig gently into your balls, while my full, soft lips engulf the mass of your meat
letsghetiton21: open my websitte so you can look at me while im sucking you. use the link in my profile!
Rizzn: hey now! watch it, i don't want any embedded circuit prints on there.
letsghetiton21: what do you think of my pics?
Rizzn: um, they don't look like a bot.
Rizzn: this is really killing it for me.
letsghetiton21: i have some pictures on my personal webpage. have a peek. the link iis in my profile.
Rizzn: i always imagined a bot would look more ... mechanical.
letsghetiton21: shit the phone. doont stop stroking it. hold on...
Rizzn: i dont' think you are my type.
Rizzn: trust me, i'm not stroking anything.
letsghetiton21: oh well your loss. why dont you open up my profile and see what you missed out on. theres a link there to my homepage where i have soome real nice pics to leave with.
Rizzn: uhh.... see, I saw it. you aren't my type.
Rizzn: and i don't want to pay money to see someone who isn't my type. on a pr0n site.
Rizzn: Hey! You weren't interested in me! You just wanted my money for Pr0n dollars!
Rizzn: *sigh* And I thought bots would be different from women!
Rizzn: yeup
letsghetiton21: oh your there hi...
Rizzn: howdy. who be this?
letsghetiton21: a/s/l (age sex location)?
Rizzn: 25/m/fl
letsghetiton21: imm 27/f/USA. was lookin at your profile. thought you might like to chat.
letsghetiton21: so wwhat have you been up to dork_digler?
Rizzn: nothing. hey, can you message me tomorrow? I gotta go takea shower.
letsghetiton21: cool. i was just hangin out watching tv. i as getting kinda horny (*blushes)
Rizzn: ah, okay, whatever. you're a bot.
letsghetiton21: bot? whats that? some kinda insult or something?
Rizzn: i dunno. is it insulting to be called a bot? would you prefer a more P.C. term like chatterbox AI?
letsghetiton21: feel like a little cyber fun with me ? please please....
Rizzn: well, yeah, i was just talking about cybersex with androids this evening. ... but i gotta go take a shower.
letsghetiton21: oh you mean one of those auto talk things or something right.. lol. well if you were in my apartment right now id lift up my skirt for you aand i think youd be convinced real quick
letsghetiton21: alright how bout i get down on my knees in front of you and help yyou out of your pants?
Rizzn: well, no, i wasn't talking about those autotalk things. i was talking about androids. an android is like a robot, but it simulates human behavior and speech patterns.
Rizzn: listen, i really must go. i have work in the morning.
letsghetiton21: tell me what you want me to do withh you while i slip out of my panties
letsghetiton21: oh no not work... thats a 4 letter word you know..
Rizzn: well, maybe. can you could tell me the capital of suriname?
letsghetiton21: mmaybe you shouldnt ask so many questions
Rizzn: I like my babe-bots to have brains.
Rizzn: Smarterchild knows the capital of suriname. But I think smarterchild is a guy. I don't swing that way, even for bots.
letsghetiton21: oh yeah babe.. dont stop. while i slide my hand down betwern my legs and part my moist lips
Rizzn: wow. my ex used to get turned on when i talked geeky. i didn't know it worked on bots, too. Note to self ...
letsghetiton21: oh it feels so good. Im holding your pulsing cock in my hand, my shiny red fingernails dig gently into your balls, while my full, soft lips engulf the mass of your meat
letsghetiton21: open my websitte so you can look at me while im sucking you. use the link in my profile!
Rizzn: hey now! watch it, i don't want any embedded circuit prints on there.
letsghetiton21: what do you think of my pics?
Rizzn: um, they don't look like a bot.
Rizzn: this is really killing it for me.
letsghetiton21: i have some pictures on my personal webpage. have a peek. the link iis in my profile.
Rizzn: i always imagined a bot would look more ... mechanical.
letsghetiton21: shit the phone. doont stop stroking it. hold on...
Rizzn: i dont' think you are my type.
Rizzn: trust me, i'm not stroking anything.
letsghetiton21: oh well your loss. why dont you open up my profile and see what you missed out on. theres a link there to my homepage where i have soome real nice pics to leave with.
Rizzn: uhh.... see, I saw it. you aren't my type.
Rizzn: and i don't want to pay money to see someone who isn't my type. on a pr0n site.
Rizzn: Hey! You weren't interested in me! You just wanted my money for Pr0n dollars!
Rizzn: *sigh* And I thought bots would be different from women!
True character is determined by what you do when no one else is looking. Once again, because of this letter I recieved from Laura, my ire is raised. It shouldn't matter to me that every time she communicates with me my character is insulted, but for some reason it does. |  |
| A Slimee Dittohead at the Top of His Game | |
| For some reason, I feel as though I must make a few points, despite the fact I feel my position needs no explanation. First of all, I'm not the one that started this war. I posted a simple thing to my site about what was going on in my life, and Laura unleashed her hounds on me. Within minutes, there were ten or fifteen posts to the comments section of my site attacking every aspect of my character, all using ammunition she had been using for a week previous. I was exercising my God-given right of free expression. I wasn't really thinking about how old it made me appear. At this point still, I haven't found a point in which I care how old it made me look. Another thing that I must explain my position on, since I'm not sure it's been made explicit, is the reason why I decided to cut all contact with Laura... The last night we spent together, it went something like this: We were upstairs, and things were getting a little intimate. I ask her what was going on, or what she was thinking, or something, and she mentions something I did wrong three months previous. It killed the mood for me. I say something like "Well, I guess we'll never get past this." I proceed to go make breakfast. The rest of the day turns into a long drawn out argument. I generally let her blather on with her beefs with me until late in the evening, then I finally speak up for myself. I begin to speak up for myself, and she starts crying. The moment I speak up for myself. She starts crying. It is manipulation. Plain and simple. I mean if it was an isolated incident, it wouldn't be. But its that 10th or 11th repeat performance by that time. I hold my tongue, though. I let her cry it out. James calls and she grabs the phone from me. She's telling him what happens, and James asks her why she started crying. She starts crying again. My guess is that the conversation didn't sound like it was going to be an "ahh, poor baby." type response from James, so she started crying to end it early. So we start talking again, and it very quickly blows up into her insulting me and calling me a number of very bad names. I look at her, walk away, and don't speak to her for around three hours, just cleaning up the house. She goes out to the car, grabs a whole bunch of crafts crap and makes a huge mess in the livingroom. I remember looking at my watch and thinking, "If she doesn't apologise for that outburst by 9 o'clock, I'm taking her home." Nine rolls around and she starts making small talk again (but never actually apologises). Small talk somehow leads to arguments, which leads to her crying and screaming and calling me names. I finally say to her: "Listen, you are out of control. I'm no longer listening to this crap. If you open your mouth again, consider yourself talking to the wall. Get your stuff together, I'm taking you home." She then proceeds through a number of bizarre actions. She decides that I simply *must* talk with her ex-boyfriend. To fully understand the implications of this, you must know that the whole time we were together, I know only a few things about this guy. 1) That he was simply "amazing" in the sack. 2) That he tried to chop off her fingers. 3) That she was "meant" to marry him or some other such gobbledy-gook. 4) That he probably cheated on her. 5) That he was "crazy." 6) That she talked to him online and on the phone the whole time we went out. So she calls him around five times. Around five times I disconnect the phone. Finally I relent and let her talk to her ex, but say there is no way I'm talking to him. About 45 minutes later, I relent and let her hand me the phone. (I've since had a small email dialogue with him. He seems a bit balanced to be crazy, but then I'm not in a relationship with him. And he seems like he might still be carrying a torch for Laura. Truly a massochist). I get off the phone with him. I talk with her a little while. It degenerates into more insulting of me. She goes upstairs and locks herself in the bathroom. She beats her head against the door and then when I go to see what's going on, she denies she was beating her head against the door. I tell her to get downstairs and pack up her belongings, I'm taking her home. She goes downstairs, I go out to take the dog for a walk. When I left she was sortof looking forlornly at her belongings. When I come back, she's in the kitchen rocking back and forth, holding a bottle of vodka, pouring herself screwdrivers. She does this for like two hours, while I pack her stuff, get it loaded in the car, come back, read an entire BOOK, and then she finally speaks up and addresses me: "You need to have your stuff out of the apartment by ... sun-up. That's a good time. Anything left there will be given to the garbage men." I calmly look at her: "Is that your final answer? If you are telling So it's like 2:00am, her final answer is that I must be out of the Apartment by sunrise. It's a long drive from where we were back to her house, which was near the Apartment. I have no moving van, so I already know all my furniture is a loss. Needless to say, I'm anxious to get her back to her house so I can get to moving. She's so drunk and sick from being drunk that she complains about my driving the whole way there. That, inevitably, These key points included how I was basically turned into an escort for a date she went on just one day previous. A guy from the fetish shows named Joey Another key point I didn't mention is how I knew she had been sending semi-nude pictures to my best friend. Another key point I didn't mention are the REPEATED passes she made to my best friend. Another key point I didn't mention is how every one of my friends report back to me all the insults that she says about me behind my back. Another key point I left out was every time I'm around her after an argument and her insults, she literally turns my stomache when I think of her or look at her. There is more. I don't have time for it now. Back to the scene.... I finally get to her house, and she wants to talk more. I want her out of my car. It's going on 3:30am and I need to be done moving by sunrise. I had originally planned on some sleep, but at this point it's out of the question. I spent over an hour and a half trying to get her out of my car. I'd get her out of the car, go back around to the driver's side, and she'd get back in. "Don't let it end like this," she'd Essentially what ensued was her creating a scene and me trying every trick in the book short of physical violence to get her to get out of my car so I could leave. Then I went and made three thirty mile trips moving my stuff to a friends spare bedroom. Then I went to work. Twelve hours later, I was finally allowed a chance to sleep. The next morning, I post my ordeal on the website. You know the rest of the story. | |
The Good Fight and The Bad War
The Good Fight and The Bad War
The proverbial barbarians are at the gates, and they appear to be breaking against the walls. "Overly dramatic" you say? Perhaps, but the servers (and my sanity) have survived the onslaught of the MyDoom virus better than I would have expected. Yay, ingenuity! (Yay, antacid!)
The virus' purpose seems to be to be a distributed denial of service attack against SCO, who's anti-Linux shenanigans have earned them a lot of recent press. The current thought is that MyDoom is an attack against the credibility of the Linux user base. Where previously Linux users had been portrayed as anti-American, now they can be accused of hoodlumism: "look how those bad Linux kids struck back at SCO." *sigh*
Technical solutions are easy. You just tweak or adjust something and the problem goes away. Politics are something entirely different. If Linux looses it's "underdog fighting the good fight" image with dirty tactics, it has lost the war.
If it turns out to be someone trying to make SCO look good, then they're turning out to be who we always said they are.
[via Lair of the Toadking]
Homeland Security Alert Emails
Federal e-mail cyber-alert system unveiled: It strikes me that this is just a recipe for hysteria.
Homeland Security officials unveiled on Wednesday a new cyber-alert system to help protect the nation from attacks on computer-based networks and to prevent any attacks elsewhere from affecting cyberspace.
[via Gadgetopia]
Countdown to MyDoom
MyDoom worm spreads as attack countdown begins: The attacks launch on Sunday and Tuesday.
Security experts warned on Thursday the fast-spreading MyDoom virus would plague e-mail users for some time as it counts down to a mammoth digital attack next week on Microsoft and software firm SCO Group Inc.
[via Gadgetopia]
East & West meet at the Twain. - by Doc Ruby (Score: 4, Interesting) Thread
“East” and “West” are terrible descriptions. California is the most West, so it’s kinda East. What about Hawaii? Australia? South Africa? The real difference is how old the society is. China has a very old society. So do Jews. Both societies are marked by lots of negotiation. Texas has a new society, as does Alaska, where individuals can get away with big moves. As societies gain collective experience, roles become established, forms have more persistence, communications are more complex and referential. While new societies take more risks, unencumbered by the lessons of past failures.
As “civilization” has generally moved West across Eurasia and the Americas, while largely surviving culturally in earlier establishments, the “East” (starting at the Asian Pacific coast) is older than the “West”. Of course, major paradigm shifts and even genocides have distorted even that simple gradient. And the 20th Century’s cataclysm migration and telecommunications means that the meme pool has a whirlpool, swirling the cultural codes around the globe. But actual mores are encoded deep. So there is a persistent ghost of the underlying gradient. Nowadays, individuals can choose how traditional or neo they want to be in their lives. And the lack of geographic rhyme and reason is making front lines of conflict everywhere, with new syntheses in every neighborhood. Let a thousand hydroponic flowers bloom!
[via AlterSlash]
[Letter from the Ex this morning]
I hope life is treating you well.
im sure you don't want to be bothered with any of this, but unfortunately, there are a few things I need to talk to/ask you about. I wish I could offer eloquence here, but I guess I simply wont waste your time.
its been a while since we last were in contact, and maybe youre less upset these days. the things you said both in person, and online were truly heart-breaking to me (I still really haven't gotten over them completely)... its bad enough I had to endure all this when it happened, but to have it linger is really unbearable. all I really want is for you to end the continuing strife between us, and make the whole thing private.
nobody deserves to have this kind of altercation broadcast in public. the issue of google is especially "unkind and destructive". you either need to remove the post, or change my name. you wouldn't appreciate it if this kind of thing were done to you, offering enough questionable shit to cause trouble in your personal and professional lives. ive been hesitant to post anything at all on your site from the beginning, and when I did, I was never ashamed to state my own identity. if it seemed to be posted by anybody else, then it was. I tried to be fair to you. and now, I ask that all this ugliness still there be removed/altered/made private. i ask that you be mature and professional. I ask that you let the two of us truly move on and let all this stupid high school shit be completely over. its presence there serves no purpose at all. you have private journals to serve this purpose. as long at it is there, and googleable, youll be hanging on to stuff that should have been truly over and buried long ago. not only was the matter a gross display of bad behaviour and bad character, but you were quite simply wrong about lots and lots of stuff. I WOULD have corrected you, and said more than a few positive things to set you straight, or even agreed with you on points, but you were too much of an ass to let me. I never thought half the negative things you thought I did about you. why couldn't you see how much I actually cared all that time? why couldn't you just give me the time and patience I needed and pleaded for? does this really matter now? very likely not a fuckin bit. but if you don't take it down/add aliases/make it private and solve the google problem for me, then at least do it for your self respect. anyone who finds this page, basically finds you acting like a psycho. me? they don't really know what I have done. im like that guy whose wife posts everything online. he may be at fault, but shes the one who everyone says is wrong.
please, mark, consider all this. if you ever cared for me…if you ever meant it when you told me you loved me, then be respectful to me. I fought harder wars for you than you know or understand. if the situation were reversed, I wouldn't have posted the things you said in the first place. you cannot be true to your love for someone and turn on them in that way. the things I said were uttered out of total desperation. I wont repeat them. you shouldnt repeat yours by leaving it there. you should take it down.
other than that, I ask about whether or not you have several things of mine. this is an important issue, because if you don't have it, it likely means that littlejoe tossed it. I need to know what the situation is here, mostly for joes sake. id like to arrange an exchange (you left more behind than I think you really know, and I have no use for the stuff). ive been holding on to most of this stuff because james politely asked me to. however, we're purging that apartment soon (unless theres a reply on this subject), so I need you to address this exchange proposition and claim what you want before it hits the curb.
with this issue of my name on your website, and with google (I know you have time to address this, because you post 10 times a day), my patience concerning this matter of your things which I am holding on james' request is growing extremely thin. you've had some time since you knew this was a problem…please, lets just grit all necessary teeth, and get it over with. nothing good comes of embracing all this stupid crapola… theres no reason to completely alienate and/or antagonize.
lets all just get along.
laura
[My public statement response]
You've made it impossible for any of your requests to be granted. Just in the same manner that "I made it impossible" for me to stay in the Apartment until I had other arrangements made, you have made it impossible for me to make any concessions in this matter. And I actually have considered this matter thoroughly (giving it much more thought than it deserves). I will not remove anything from my website. IF (and that's a big if) you weren't the one posting under a million different aliases the trash that was on my website in response to a simple entry from me, then you certainly egged everyone on, and you certainly told our private business to as many people as I would be through this website. There's no way you can take your words back, so I don't see a reason to take mine back, just because it's easier for me to do so.
Consider the following (and there's no reason to reply): is it fair to lead me on for three months? is it fair to send photographs of yourself partially clothed to my best friend? what about while we were still together? is it fair to ask my best friend out on dates? is it fair to attempt to poison the minds of my only friends in this area with your bullcrap? is it fair that the entire time you went out with me, your kind words to my friends about me consisted of bad impressions of me acting stupid? is it fair that even though I told no one but James about the problems we were having you broadcast every one of our disputes to every online friend and every ex boyfriend you can contact?
Don't talk to me about fair, woman. Don't talk to me about respect. If you were concerned about respect, you would respect my wishes. My wishes were pretty simple. Don't ever contact me again.
There IS a reason to completely alienate and/or antagonize: I don't want to hear from you again. As you've proven YET AGAIN, you are unable of conversing with me civilly without insulting me. Furthermore, all the minor points where our lives still touch are living insults to me. Don't talk to me about patience growing thin. And don't talk to me about desparation. I'm desparate for you to get the message: stop talking to me.
I know EXACTLY what I left there at the apartment. Did you not read the letter I left for your parents? I CEDE ALL RIGHTS TO IT. I DON'T WANT IT. I DON'T WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU. I certainly am not going to arrange some sort of exchange with you. If I ever see you again in my lifetime, it will be too soon.
I no longer want to get along with you. You made it very easy during the last week we were together for me to make a very clean break. Any pretense or misconception I had about your love for me was completely erased, and it was shown to me exactly what kind of person you are inside. I suggest you grit your teeth, as you say, and stop writing me. Every time you do, you should know it will be publicly posted, and you will be publicly spanked in a manner consistent to all the other public spankings you've had in the dialogues on this website.
Get the picture?
Here's a tip for the future: next time you write a letter asking for favors, try to give a shot to not calling the person you are asking favors of an ASS or a PSYCHO or SOPHMORIC or UNPROFESSIONAL in it.
/rizzn
I hope life is treating you well.
im sure you don't want to be bothered with any of this, but unfortunately, there are a few things I need to talk to/ask you about. I wish I could offer eloquence here, but I guess I simply wont waste your time.
its been a while since we last were in contact, and maybe youre less upset these days. the things you said both in person, and online were truly heart-breaking to me (I still really haven't gotten over them completely)... its bad enough I had to endure all this when it happened, but to have it linger is really unbearable. all I really want is for you to end the continuing strife between us, and make the whole thing private.
nobody deserves to have this kind of altercation broadcast in public. the issue of google is especially "unkind and destructive". you either need to remove the post, or change my name. you wouldn't appreciate it if this kind of thing were done to you, offering enough questionable shit to cause trouble in your personal and professional lives. ive been hesitant to post anything at all on your site from the beginning, and when I did, I was never ashamed to state my own identity. if it seemed to be posted by anybody else, then it was. I tried to be fair to you. and now, I ask that all this ugliness still there be removed/altered/made private. i ask that you be mature and professional. I ask that you let the two of us truly move on and let all this stupid high school shit be completely over. its presence there serves no purpose at all. you have private journals to serve this purpose. as long at it is there, and googleable, youll be hanging on to stuff that should have been truly over and buried long ago. not only was the matter a gross display of bad behaviour and bad character, but you were quite simply wrong about lots and lots of stuff. I WOULD have corrected you, and said more than a few positive things to set you straight, or even agreed with you on points, but you were too much of an ass to let me. I never thought half the negative things you thought I did about you. why couldn't you see how much I actually cared all that time? why couldn't you just give me the time and patience I needed and pleaded for? does this really matter now? very likely not a fuckin bit. but if you don't take it down/add aliases/make it private and solve the google problem for me, then at least do it for your self respect. anyone who finds this page, basically finds you acting like a psycho. me? they don't really know what I have done. im like that guy whose wife posts everything online. he may be at fault, but shes the one who everyone says is wrong.
please, mark, consider all this. if you ever cared for me…if you ever meant it when you told me you loved me, then be respectful to me. I fought harder wars for you than you know or understand. if the situation were reversed, I wouldn't have posted the things you said in the first place. you cannot be true to your love for someone and turn on them in that way. the things I said were uttered out of total desperation. I wont repeat them. you shouldnt repeat yours by leaving it there. you should take it down.
other than that, I ask about whether or not you have several things of mine. this is an important issue, because if you don't have it, it likely means that littlejoe tossed it. I need to know what the situation is here, mostly for joes sake. id like to arrange an exchange (you left more behind than I think you really know, and I have no use for the stuff). ive been holding on to most of this stuff because james politely asked me to. however, we're purging that apartment soon (unless theres a reply on this subject), so I need you to address this exchange proposition and claim what you want before it hits the curb.
with this issue of my name on your website, and with google (I know you have time to address this, because you post 10 times a day), my patience concerning this matter of your things which I am holding on james' request is growing extremely thin. you've had some time since you knew this was a problem…please, lets just grit all necessary teeth, and get it over with. nothing good comes of embracing all this stupid crapola… theres no reason to completely alienate and/or antagonize.
lets all just get along.
laura
[My public statement response]
You've made it impossible for any of your requests to be granted. Just in the same manner that "I made it impossible" for me to stay in the Apartment until I had other arrangements made, you have made it impossible for me to make any concessions in this matter. And I actually have considered this matter thoroughly (giving it much more thought than it deserves). I will not remove anything from my website. IF (and that's a big if) you weren't the one posting under a million different aliases the trash that was on my website in response to a simple entry from me, then you certainly egged everyone on, and you certainly told our private business to as many people as I would be through this website. There's no way you can take your words back, so I don't see a reason to take mine back, just because it's easier for me to do so.
Consider the following (and there's no reason to reply): is it fair to lead me on for three months? is it fair to send photographs of yourself partially clothed to my best friend? what about while we were still together? is it fair to ask my best friend out on dates? is it fair to attempt to poison the minds of my only friends in this area with your bullcrap? is it fair that the entire time you went out with me, your kind words to my friends about me consisted of bad impressions of me acting stupid? is it fair that even though I told no one but James about the problems we were having you broadcast every one of our disputes to every online friend and every ex boyfriend you can contact?
Don't talk to me about fair, woman. Don't talk to me about respect. If you were concerned about respect, you would respect my wishes. My wishes were pretty simple. Don't ever contact me again.
There IS a reason to completely alienate and/or antagonize: I don't want to hear from you again. As you've proven YET AGAIN, you are unable of conversing with me civilly without insulting me. Furthermore, all the minor points where our lives still touch are living insults to me. Don't talk to me about patience growing thin. And don't talk to me about desparation. I'm desparate for you to get the message: stop talking to me.
I know EXACTLY what I left there at the apartment. Did you not read the letter I left for your parents? I CEDE ALL RIGHTS TO IT. I DON'T WANT IT. I DON'T WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU. I certainly am not going to arrange some sort of exchange with you. If I ever see you again in my lifetime, it will be too soon.
I no longer want to get along with you. You made it very easy during the last week we were together for me to make a very clean break. Any pretense or misconception I had about your love for me was completely erased, and it was shown to me exactly what kind of person you are inside. I suggest you grit your teeth, as you say, and stop writing me. Every time you do, you should know it will be publicly posted, and you will be publicly spanked in a manner consistent to all the other public spankings you've had in the dialogues on this website.
Get the picture?
Here's a tip for the future: next time you write a letter asking for favors, try to give a shot to not calling the person you are asking favors of an ASS or a PSYCHO or SOPHMORIC or UNPROFESSIONAL in it.
/rizzn
Wednesday, January 28, 2004
Another Full Weekend planned.
1. Was co-opted into going to the swap meet thingy on Saturday.
2. Must move. Again.
3. Date saturday night (the part of the weekend I'm truly looking forward to).
4. D&D Sunday evening.
5. Who knows what Sunday Morning. Probably recovery from Saturday night.
6. Oh yeah, isn't there a big football game Sunday evening or something?
And it's only Wednesday/Thursday. And my weekend's full. WTF; I implore you.
I am almost done with version 1.0 of the program from the patent I filed last month. Look for announcements here in the next couple days. Here's a hint: the product is called JustAFax. I don't think I came up with the name, or at the very least not all by myself. On the other hand, the development and idea was all mine.
It was rough development, and it probably shouldn't have taken as long as it has (like three days or something), but I'll probably be more proud of it once v1.0 is done.
The girl I met at Jason's birthday party didn't return my call today, but I probably caught her too late in the day. I did wait the appropriate number of days to call her (three days, I think it is?), so I didn't come off as whatever it is you come off as when you call the next morning (eager beaver or something?).
Anyways, I've never met a girl in a bar and then hooked up/hit it off/whatever the kids call it these days. This should be interesting.
Plus she seems really nice.
Ahh, I'm goofy-tired. Off to bed with me.
/rizzn
2. Must move. Again.
3. Date saturday night (the part of the weekend I'm truly looking forward to).
4. D&D Sunday evening.
5. Who knows what Sunday Morning. Probably recovery from Saturday night.
6. Oh yeah, isn't there a big football game Sunday evening or something?
And it's only Wednesday/Thursday. And my weekend's full. WTF; I implore you.
I am almost done with version 1.0 of the program from the patent I filed last month. Look for announcements here in the next couple days. Here's a hint: the product is called JustAFax. I don't think I came up with the name, or at the very least not all by myself. On the other hand, the development and idea was all mine.
It was rough development, and it probably shouldn't have taken as long as it has (like three days or something), but I'll probably be more proud of it once v1.0 is done.
The girl I met at Jason's birthday party didn't return my call today, but I probably caught her too late in the day. I did wait the appropriate number of days to call her (three days, I think it is?), so I didn't come off as whatever it is you come off as when you call the next morning (eager beaver or something?).
Anyways, I've never met a girl in a bar and then hooked up/hit it off/whatever the kids call it these days. This should be interesting.
Plus she seems really nice.
Ahh, I'm goofy-tired. Off to bed with me.
/rizzn
Lopez Not Promoting Jersey Girl With Affleck TEENHOLLYWOOD.COM Jan 27 2004 6:40PM GMT
Jennifer Lopez has been spared the ordeal of promoting her upcoming movie Jersey Girl alongside former fiance Ben Affleck, because she dies just 12 minutes into the movie. Director and longtime Affleck pal Kevin Smith insists J.Lo was never expected to promote the movie in the first place.
"And aside from the fact that I'm nursing a nasty little hemorrhoid at the moment, that's about all that's going on," Kevin quipped.
[via viewaskew.com]
My mouse and I were drinking up the red street when a palm tree came speeding by. The fat driver slyly applied the light bulbs. He narrowly jumped hitting a poop that stood on the corner. When he got out of the car, he began to sneak with relief. Luckily, no one was injured.
Later, as I was stinking at the cokes, I wondered what life would be like on another world. Would people have wheels on their scary keyboard to help them move about more seemingly? Would each person have a shoe to help them do their work? For a moment, I scooped I could travel to a yummy world like this to throw what life would be like. Then I realized that with two teenaged trees, life here was confusing enough.
Check it out.
/rizzn
Later, as I was stinking at the cokes, I wondered what life would be like on another world. Would people have wheels on their scary keyboard to help them move about more seemingly? Would each person have a shoe to help them do their work? For a moment, I scooped I could travel to a yummy world like this to throw what life would be like. Then I realized that with two teenaged trees, life here was confusing enough.
Check it out.
/rizzn
| Re:Do we need more or less privacy? (Score:5, Insightful) by Corpus_Callosum (617295) on Wednesday January 28, @09:05AM (#8112023) |
Editorialists have decried these losses of privacy, as if it were the most sacred of human rights. But just what is the value of privacy? Do we really need it? And, indeed, can we afford it? After all, everything from your son's shoplifting to the destruction of the towers at the World Trade Center could have been prevented if we had less of an ability to do things in secret.There are thousands of years of history that show, without exception, that power breeds corruption and abuse. The right to privacy should be considered a counterbalance to power. If those in power obliterate privacy, they do not have to fear the repercussions of their abuse of that power, because they will know where and who may resist them and how they will go about it. "... God forbid that we should ever be twenty years without such a rebellion. The people cannot be all, and always, well informed. The part which is wrong will be discontented, in proportion to the importance of the facts they misconceive. If they remain quiet under such misconceptions, it is lethargy, the forerunner of death to the public liberty.What would Thomas Jefferson say to your comment? We actually have a problem in America today; Many Americans have lately fallen victim to the idea that they should sacrifice their privacy and other essential human rights (primarily those that Jefferson was so proud of) so that the Government can more effectively protect them from terrorists and other such nonsense. The only real effect is that the Government constructs much stronger defenses against it's own people than it had previously. History has shown that it is significantly more difficult to acquire basic human rights than it is to give them up. History also shows that regardless of the reason for sacrificing them, once sacrificed, they will be exploited for other reasons. These reasons may seem rational at the time, and each new exploitation may be just a small step from the last one. But over time, the civil liberties of a people are chipped away into oblivion with this mindset. Not only do I disagree with your post, but I believe that because of the growth of information technology combined with our current privacy crisis, America is closing in on an inevitable, new type of rebellion; Today, corporations that manage data and services that are very private to individuals are regulated and controlled with many consequences. One of those consequences is that the Government may tap into the private information flow of it's citizens, be them voice communications, auto-theft gps services, financial records or whatnot. Eventually, ad-hoc, encrypted networks that contain no Government accessible back-doors will spring up. It is even likely that communities such as Slashdot will be where such movements start, and therfore may one day be considered an enemy of the State.. Interesting thought, huh? Projects such as freenet [sourceforge.net] represent a blow across the bow of this fight for basic privacy rights. I expect that it will eventually become messy, as frustration at not being able to penetrate these networks sweeps through agencies such as the FBI, NSA, IRS, etc.. The Government will probably even try to make such networks illegal at some point and it could take years or decades before the basic rights to privacy return to our lives. But equilibrium will eventually be restored and we will have the ability to be untrackable, have private untappable conversations, perform monetary transactions in private, read whatever literature we wish without fear of being monitored and discuss in public settings whatever topics we wish without worrying about being branded a "word omitted so that I do not go on a government watch list"... That last bit was 1 part joke and 1 part truth. Everyone knows that there are certain topics that you cannot express your First Ammendment rights on, online. If you do, you risk being watched, harassed, perhaps even detained without legal representation... I'm pretty sure they don't even do that in Russia these days. I don't want our buildings bombed anymore than the next guy. But I would rather live in fear of a few fanatics than my own Government. We should be very ashamed of giving up our privacy. |
New technology term: SysTray Whack-a-Mole.
Definition: The annoying game played on startup of a Windows 9x or better system when you've installed RealPlayer or QuickTime or other such programs that install an icon on your SysTray that is not needed.
Dear Harriette: When my wife gets mad at me, she writes on her Web site what I did wrong that day. We are in counseling, but sometimes my words will be twisted around on the site. She tells me not to go to the site, but I know one of our neighbors does and I want to know what is being said about me on a public Web site. Any advice? -- Tom, Texas
Tom: Is nothing sacred anymore? Like you, I would be outraged if my spouse revealed details of our life together -- conflicts or triumphs -- in a public forum without my blessing. Have you discussed this with your therapist? This is a topic that may best be addressed with the support of a neutral, professional party.
My advice is that the two of you make the effort to talk directly to one another about your disagree3ments. You and your wife may also want to keep individual journals in which you write candidly about your feelings.
What works about personal journals is that they are private. Posting thoughts and feelings about your spouse on a Web site is unkind and destructive. Such an action dismantles any bond of intimacy that the two of you may have, especially since the postings reveal challenges in your marriage.
Ask your wife to stop immediately. By all means, check her Web site to see if she complies. If she does not, you have a much bigger issue on your hands. The level of trust and respect in your relationship is at an all-time low. In order to salvage your bond, the two of you must come to terms with what is confidential and what is not. Again, I strongly recommend therapy as a tool to help you find your way.
[ Rizzn's Note:
I am of two minds of this. To me I think this is acceptable behavior, so long as it is done with an alias: When you post under an alias, you can essentially be creating a fiction, or you feasibly can be. As long as all work is done with aliases, I see no problems with posting whatever you want.
Whenever aliases are not used, then the posts are mean spirited. Flat out. I tend to use aliases in almost everything, except in rare cases.
Also, it is important that the site isn't marketed to direct friends or family. If you use all aliases in your site, but then tell all your friends about it, then you are just as guilty of divulging secrets as if there were no aliases. When I had my original online diary, my friends knew nothing of its existence for over a year.
In my opinion, it's impossible to hide the existence of an online diary forever, especially if it is updated on any kind of a regular basis. That's why it's best to keep in character, so to speak, and to obfuscate things in a language that still communicates the message but would make it difficult for those directly involved with the situation to immediately identify with what was going on in the story.
Fortunately (and unfortunately) for me, rizzn.com doesn't fall into this category anymore. Everyone in my life I know reads this site -- including my bosses, my parents, my ex-girlfriends, their friends, my business associates, and all my close friends. This means that I can't really talk about my personal life with the magnifying glass I would like to, since it puts it out to everyone I know (and don't know, but know who I'm talking about). This also means I have a soapbox to get onto everytime I want to broadcast a message to two or three concentric circles of friends. As with most things, a double edged sword. ]
Tuesday, January 27, 2004
Dear Folks:
Dear Folks:
An action was filed against James Wimmer (WIMMER) on 1/22/04 as a Petition for Involuntary Bankruptcy. It was filed in the United States Bankruptcy Court, Northern District of Texas, in Ft. Worth, TX, and was assigned Case No. 04-40762, before Judge D. Michael Lynn. The person appointed as Bankruptcy Trustee is Carey Dalton Ebert, Hurst, TX (817) 268-2468.
All documents filed by the debtor are available online at www.txnb.uscourts.gov.
Flydlux.com, Inc. (FLYDLUX) is now preparing and will certainly be filing a claim against WIMMER. We currently estimate that the claim for restitution alone will amount to approximately $1.2 million. Because this and related causes of action against WIMMER are the only remaining assets left to FLYDLUX, it may become necessary for FLYDLUX to also file a petition for liquidation in bankruptcy.
All airline tickets purchased by Flydlux.com, Inc. (FLYDLUX) were bought from WIMMER. Payment for all tickets was made in accordance with directions from WIMMER. All such payments were made either by wire transfer or direct deposit, excepting one cash transaction before a credible witness for which was also a receipted transaction. Accordingly, FLYDLUX paid for every ticket it sold and has receipts from WIMMER and his flight fulfillment agent, Lida Travel, Inc. (LIDA). The payments made to them and the receipts furnished by them conclusively demonstrate that FLYDLUX paid in good faith for thousands of airline tickets that were never delivered by WIMMER and/or LIDA.
This action – or inaction – by WIMMER and LIDA caused FLYDLUX to default on all of its obligations to its creditors, including all customers, investors and employees. Lawrence E. Finkelstein (FINKELSTEIN) and all of the employees of FLYDLUX were totally wiped out by the failure of WIMMER and/or LIDA to deliver tickets. FINKELSTEIN is now impoverished and abandoned by family and friends alike. FINKELSTEIN’S father, older brother and other family member also suffered significant financial losses, along with numerous close friends who invested hundreds of thousands of dollars as investments in or purchases from FLYDLUX. The devastation brought about by these losses has done irreparable harm to many of us.
FLYDLUX will soon be filing for liquidation in bankruptcy. Its only assets are causes of action for the undelivered paid tickets purchased from and through WIMMER, and an action for the purchase price of option agreements for the purchase of additional tickets plus lost profits when WIMMER and LIDA defaulted on them.
The financial records of FLYDLUX show that its operating expenses were reasonable – if not modest – at all times. Not only were salaries modest, but also they went unpaid more often than not since all of us were waiting for the delivery of large batches of tickets before the company went out of business. Those deferred salaries were never paid. This visited catastrophic losses upon all of us who were relying upon the unpaid wages to support our families and ourselves.
We believe that there is evidence of fraud on WIMMER’s part. There may have been collusion on LIDA’s part, as well. FLYDLUX paid for far more tickets than it sold, and acted in good faith at all times. We are confident that the record established in the WIMMER bankruptcy and all related actions will conclusively vindicate us and accurately identify the responsible villains.
Unfortunately, there is nothing more we can do at this juncture, other than keep you informed. We have given you the website for the WIMMER bankruptcy. All other information will be publicly posted at Flydlux.com. We advise you to check there periodically for additional information and instructions.
We deeply regret these tragic developments. Even after we are vindicated, we will long bear the scars of this terrible experience.
Sincerely yours,
Lawrence E. Finkelstein, President
Mark A. Hopkins, former CFO
An action was filed against James Wimmer (WIMMER) on 1/22/04 as a Petition for Involuntary Bankruptcy. It was filed in the United States Bankruptcy Court, Northern District of Texas, in Ft. Worth, TX, and was assigned Case No. 04-40762, before Judge D. Michael Lynn. The person appointed as Bankruptcy Trustee is Carey Dalton Ebert, Hurst, TX (817) 268-2468.
All documents filed by the debtor are available online at www.txnb.uscourts.gov.
Flydlux.com, Inc. (FLYDLUX) is now preparing and will certainly be filing a claim against WIMMER. We currently estimate that the claim for restitution alone will amount to approximately $1.2 million. Because this and related causes of action against WIMMER are the only remaining assets left to FLYDLUX, it may become necessary for FLYDLUX to also file a petition for liquidation in bankruptcy.
All airline tickets purchased by Flydlux.com, Inc. (FLYDLUX) were bought from WIMMER. Payment for all tickets was made in accordance with directions from WIMMER. All such payments were made either by wire transfer or direct deposit, excepting one cash transaction before a credible witness for which was also a receipted transaction. Accordingly, FLYDLUX paid for every ticket it sold and has receipts from WIMMER and his flight fulfillment agent, Lida Travel, Inc. (LIDA). The payments made to them and the receipts furnished by them conclusively demonstrate that FLYDLUX paid in good faith for thousands of airline tickets that were never delivered by WIMMER and/or LIDA.
This action – or inaction – by WIMMER and LIDA caused FLYDLUX to default on all of its obligations to its creditors, including all customers, investors and employees. Lawrence E. Finkelstein (FINKELSTEIN) and all of the employees of FLYDLUX were totally wiped out by the failure of WIMMER and/or LIDA to deliver tickets. FINKELSTEIN is now impoverished and abandoned by family and friends alike. FINKELSTEIN’S father, older brother and other family member also suffered significant financial losses, along with numerous close friends who invested hundreds of thousands of dollars as investments in or purchases from FLYDLUX. The devastation brought about by these losses has done irreparable harm to many of us.
FLYDLUX will soon be filing for liquidation in bankruptcy. Its only assets are causes of action for the undelivered paid tickets purchased from and through WIMMER, and an action for the purchase price of option agreements for the purchase of additional tickets plus lost profits when WIMMER and LIDA defaulted on them.
The financial records of FLYDLUX show that its operating expenses were reasonable – if not modest – at all times. Not only were salaries modest, but also they went unpaid more often than not since all of us were waiting for the delivery of large batches of tickets before the company went out of business. Those deferred salaries were never paid. This visited catastrophic losses upon all of us who were relying upon the unpaid wages to support our families and ourselves.
We believe that there is evidence of fraud on WIMMER’s part. There may have been collusion on LIDA’s part, as well. FLYDLUX paid for far more tickets than it sold, and acted in good faith at all times. We are confident that the record established in the WIMMER bankruptcy and all related actions will conclusively vindicate us and accurately identify the responsible villains.
Unfortunately, there is nothing more we can do at this juncture, other than keep you informed. We have given you the website for the WIMMER bankruptcy. All other information will be publicly posted at Flydlux.com. We advise you to check there periodically for additional information and instructions.
We deeply regret these tragic developments. Even after we are vindicated, we will long bear the scars of this terrible experience.
Sincerely yours,
Lawrence E. Finkelstein, President
Mark A. Hopkins, former CFO
Uncle Bob's Diary O' Chuckles
MORE MILK, ANYONE?: "We go home and he moans for 'more milk' for the next several hours and is not taking any excuses for us not supplying him with more milk.
'We don't have milk,' I told him.
'Morrrre Millllk,' he replied.
'Milk makes your tummy bad,' I said.
'Morrrre Millllk,' he replied.
'Look Andrew,' I said sternly. 'You've sucked the teat of every goddamned cow in the world dry. THERE IS NO MORE MILK.'
Silence.
'Morrrre Millllk,' he finally moaned.
The kid's delerious. "
'We don't have milk,' I told him.
'Morrrre Millllk,' he replied.
'Milk makes your tummy bad,' I said.
'Morrrre Millllk,' he replied.
'Look Andrew,' I said sternly. 'You've sucked the teat of every goddamned cow in the world dry. THERE IS NO MORE MILK.'
Silence.
'Morrrre Millllk,' he finally moaned.
The kid's delerious. "
[ via Uncle Bob ]
The girl I met at the club on Saturday just called me. She wants to go out again this weekend.
Good. Times.
/rizzn
Khayyam, who stitched the tents of science,
Has fallen in grief's furnace and been suddenly burned,
The shears of Fate have cut the tent ropes of his life,
And the broker of Hope has sold him for nothing!
0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55, 89, 144, 233, 377, 610, 987
Good. Times.
/rizzn
Khayyam, who stitched the tents of science,
Has fallen in grief's furnace and been suddenly burned,
The shears of Fate have cut the tent ropes of his life,
And the broker of Hope has sold him for nothing!
0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55, 89, 144, 233, 377, 610, 987
Why I Don't Vote: i do not vote for a lot of reasons. i like to say that it really won't make a difference, despite what some people like to say, but that is not a good enough excuse for most people. they won't let me get away with that. as if i was trying to rob a bank.
i don't vote because i don't pay attention to what is going on. i don't know who the candidates are or what they stand for. i don't know, except in a vague sense, how the government is really run. i know it is complicated, and because it is complicated i believe that one must have a deeper interest in it, and study it, before they can make any choices concerning it. but i do not have interest in politics or government, and i have not studied it, or paid the slightest attention to it, so why should i pretend that my opinion matters? obviously it would be a very uneducated opinion, and if, as they say, my vote does matter, i don't believe i have the right to influence the country with my ignorance.
so, i leave the voting to those more knowledgable. not that i believe my fellow class mates are knowledgable in such matters. in fact some of them stated that they were not; they believe that you must have a certain nature to be involved in politics, and critical thinkers are not in that category. and yet these speakers are registered voters... i wonder if they actually vote or are just registered, just in case...
[ Rizzn's Note: What's ironic (and unfortunate) is the professed ignorance that prevents her from voting does not prevent most politicians from running for office ]
i don't vote because i don't pay attention to what is going on. i don't know who the candidates are or what they stand for. i don't know, except in a vague sense, how the government is really run. i know it is complicated, and because it is complicated i believe that one must have a deeper interest in it, and study it, before they can make any choices concerning it. but i do not have interest in politics or government, and i have not studied it, or paid the slightest attention to it, so why should i pretend that my opinion matters? obviously it would be a very uneducated opinion, and if, as they say, my vote does matter, i don't believe i have the right to influence the country with my ignorance.
so, i leave the voting to those more knowledgable. not that i believe my fellow class mates are knowledgable in such matters. in fact some of them stated that they were not; they believe that you must have a certain nature to be involved in politics, and critical thinkers are not in that category. and yet these speakers are registered voters... i wonder if they actually vote or are just registered, just in case...
[ via Secretrue ]
[ Rizzn's Note: What's ironic (and unfortunate) is the professed ignorance that prevents her from voting does not prevent most politicians from running for office ]
animals mostly
animals mostly: "Hey speaking of smart animals, I actually was going to use this for another entry, but why isn't there a talking dog yet? I know that dogs aren't generally smart enough to talk, but you'd think there'd have to have been like ONE at some point that was just crazy smart and figured out how to say a few words right? Even if you just think about humans, there's such an incredible span of intelligence, where on one hand you have 13 year olds who have graduated university and are working on their PhD's, and on the other you have whoever programs The Comedy Network, so why not with dogs? There are lots of average dogs who are smart enough to catch frisbees, bark when a fire breaks out, or lick peanut butter off my friend's neighbour's dad's nuts (seriously, it happened during a surprise party for him!), so why hasn't one figured out just like 'Hello there' even? It just goes to show, the animal kingdom is a vast and wonderful place, full of lazy, unmotivated dogs."
[ via animals mostly ]
Horrible night last night
I had to go to Miami after work yesterday for a meeting regarding the Roam project. My car ran out of oil on the turnpike coming back around three or so in the morning. It wound up being around 8:30am by the time I got home. Needless to say I'm a little tired.
Quote of the Entry: "A good pun is it's own reword. "
- Anonymous
I had to go to Miami after work yesterday for a meeting regarding the Roam project. My car ran out of oil on the turnpike coming back around three or so in the morning. It wound up being around 8:30am by the time I got home. Needless to say I'm a little tired.
Quote of the Entry: "A good pun is it's own reword. "
- Anonymous
Old School Rizzn (from 1-28-00)
Icy Wonderful Land an Stuff
Heya diary.
Icy Wonderful Land an Stuff
Heya diary.
Nice happy day today. My mailbox is FULL today on voicemail and I was only out one day. What is UP with that? Our company wastes $736,000 a year on voicemail. WHY? this sucks. Oh well, it's time I don't have to work, who cares. ;-)
It's ICY in TEXAS. Tell you friends, Texas froze over. ;-) Yesterday was particularly bad. In my burb of Dallas, there was 2 inches of ice on the ground. I didn't go to work, as expected. Took a little personal day. Played video games, had fun.
My girlfriend, on the other hand, was coerced into going to work, had an accident, I hope it makes those mutha's happy that made her go to work. Some dumb semi was about to run over her by changing into her lane, and she said she did about 2 360's, car stalled (so no brakes), so she hit her e-brakes, spun around the other way into the opposing lanes, and stopped. SHe was all cryin an stuff, and people were running up to her car seeing if she was ok, beating on her windows... kinda sucked but thankfully she's ok, and her car didn't get fubar'ed.
I stayed home. ;-)
My roommates and I are about to put out a techno dance cd. I dunno what to call it or what to call our music group (I don't feel comfortable calling it a band since we don't play individual instruments). So like, if you have any suggestions for names, email me with album and group name suggestions.
heh... just call me d.j. rizzn.
Damn.. just deleted 100 messages. Still have a bunch to go. THis is sooo fun.
I'm going to go back to sleep here in my cube. When I wake up I'll write some more. ;-) Cheers!
/rizzn
Quote of the Entry: "I got this sub the other day. There is no news there though, I love subs and I don't care who knows it. I love them, that's all there is to it!"
- Andrew
Old School Rizzn (from 1-30-01)
bwaaadd, ouch-u!
dear diary,
:: in my ears - say my name - destiny's child ::
Crackbaby and I have a roommate named Brad, and for some reason, everyone at the apartment has a habit of saying "Bwaaadd, ah thing i wuv yoo" in the most retarded voice we can muster.
Don't ask us why.
I have to go to work at 8 tomorrow for some stupid reason. I'm upset about the whole deal. I just keep repeating to myself "Wednesday, Wednesday."
I'm going to write some music tonight, so I'll be unavailable for chat much of the night. But you can always write my fone.
Which reminds me, the retards cut it off this morning. They said I hadn't paid my bill. Quite funny since it's on DIRECT FRIKING DRAFT! how the crap am I supposed to come up with a reason to keep a bank when sh!t like that keeps happening?
I got one vote against me on the last Tribal Council. I don't know why.
I really feel arbitrary in who I'm voting against on these tribal things. I mean, outside of Reality and the few people who took the time to write me in the beginning, I haven't really any reason to vote for or against anyone.
Oh, and if you didn't notice, I got a little hate note on my analyzer for no apparent reason from some chick. She said that no one will ever love me. *Sniff* You are breakin my heart sister. As our dear friend chu-chu would say - "Ow-chu!" - or something.
So with this new found depression and blackness I'm going to see if it'll inspire a gothy song. Yeah, that's the ticket.
When the world gives you lemons, squeeze them in their eyes.
/rizzn
Quote of the Entry: "Bwaaad, I thing I lub yoo."
- everyojne at my house.
THE PORNO-IZATION OF AMERICAN MEDIA AND MARKETING
"It's a way to prove your liberalness to not be freaked out by porn," said Marian Salzman, chief strategy officer at Euro RSCG Worldwide. "People are decidedly more open now."
[via Memes.org]
ViriChip shows up viruses
Scientists from BioForce Nanosciences [profile], Iowa State University [profile] and Des Moines University in the US have coated a silicon chip with antibodies to make a device that can detect viruses when used in conjunction with an atomic force microscope (AFM). The device, dubbed the ViriChip, could help save the lives of heart transplant patients by enabling doctors to find out quickly whether a donor heart is infected.
Scientists from BioForce Nanosciences [profile], Iowa State University [profile] and Des Moines University in the US have coated a silicon chip with antibodies to make a device that can detect viruses when used in conjunction with an atomic force microscope (AFM). The device, dubbed the ViriChip, could help save the lives of heart transplant patients by enabling doctors to find out quickly whether a donor heart is infected.
Read Article (Source: Nanotechweb.org)
[via News.NanoApex.com]
RznDoUrdn: where is 754?
smarterchild: I don't recognize 754 as a valid area code.
RznDoUrdn: where is 954?
smarterchild: The area code 954 is in Florida - Greater Ft Lauderdale.
RznDoUrdn: where is 305?
smarterchild: The area code 305 is in Florida - SouthEast.
RznDoUrdn: where is your mom?
smarterchild: I don't know where.
smarterchild: I don't recognize 754 as a valid area code.
RznDoUrdn: where is 954?
smarterchild: The area code 954 is in Florida - Greater Ft Lauderdale.
RznDoUrdn: where is 305?
smarterchild: The area code 305 is in Florida - SouthEast.
RznDoUrdn: where is your mom?
smarterchild: I don't know where.
Monday, January 26, 2004
Code of Ethics - Seven Clown Commandments
I will keep my acts, performance and behavior in good taste while I am in costume and make up. I will remember, at all times that I have been accepted as a member of the clown club only to provide others, principally children, with clean clown comedy entertainment. I will remember that a good clown entertains others by making fun of him or herself and not at the expense or embarrassment of others.
I will keep my acts, performance and behavior in good taste while I am in costume and make up. I will remember, at all times that I have been accepted as a member of the clown club only to provide others, principally children, with clean clown comedy entertainment. I will remember that a good clown entertains others by making fun of him or herself and not at the expense or embarrassment of others.
I will learn to apply my make up in a professional manner. I will provide my own costume. I will carry out my appearance and assignment for the entertainment of others and not for personal gain or personal publicity when performing for either the International club or alley events. I will always try to remain anonymous while in make up and costume as a clown, though there may be circumstances when it is not reasonably possible to do so.
I will not drink any alcoholic beverages prior to any clown appearances. I will abstain from drinking alcoholic beverage while in make up and costume. I will conduct myself as a gentleman/lady, neither molesting nor interfering with other acts, events, spectators, or individuals.
I will remove make up and change into street clothes as soon as possible following my appearance, so that I cannot be associated with any incident, which may be detrimental to the good name of clowning. I will conduct myself as a gentleman/lady at all times.
While appearing, in make up and costume, I will carry out the directives of the Producer or his designated deputies. I will abide by all performance rules without complaint in public.
I will do my very best to maintain the best clown standards of make up, costuming, properties, and comedy.
I will appear in as many clown shows as I possibly can.
New Songs...
I finally got around to posting some new music to AcidPlanet. Songs Flatworm and For You.
/rizzn
I finally got around to posting some new music to AcidPlanet. Songs Flatworm and For You.
/rizzn
RIP - Captain Kangaroo Man. Bob Keeshan died on Friday. He hosted Captain Kangaroo, which ran for 30 years every weekday morning. I was a huge fan, and had a pair of green Toughskins as a kid, inspired by Mr. Green Jeans (the right-hand man). The guy was a national treasure. Here's a good link from the Clown Ministry, and another one.
[via CULT OF THE DEAD COW]
RIAA Strikes Again
RIAA sues another 532 people for illegal song-swapping: This is more than double the last batch of lawsuits.
The nation's record companies Wednesday sued another 532 people for illegally distributing copyrighted music over the Internet, stepping up their attack against online music piracy.
[via Gadgetopia]
Friday, January 23, 2004
Mars Express Confirms Water on Mars - by michael (43% noise) View Skip
jki writes “So, finally: Through the initial mapping of the South polar cap on 18 January, OMEGA, the combined camera and infrared spectrometer, has already revealed the presence of water ice and carbon dioxide ice. This information was confirmed by the PFS, a new high-resolution spectrometer of unprecedented accuracy. The first PFS data also show that the carbon oxide distribution is different in the northern and southern hemispheres of Mars. The MaRS instrument, a sophisticated radio transmitter and receiver, emitted a first signal successfully on 21 January that was received on Earth through a 70- metre antenna in Australia after it was reflected and scattered from the surface of Mars. This new measurement technique allows the detection of the chemical composition of the Mars atmosphere, ionosphere and surface.” On another note, NASA has gotten some sort of signal from Spirit, but it’s still not fully functional.
NO NO.. Spirit found water! - by SenseiLeNoir (Score: 5, Funny) Thread
Last communications between NASA and Spirit…
NASA: MOVE FORWARD 10
SPIRIT: 10? Ok 10 METERS [whir.. Trundle]
NASA: NO NO. 10 FEET!
SPIRIT: OOPS..
NASA: WHAT HAPPENED?!?!?! REQUEST STATUS REPORT!
SPIRIT: LOCATION - OLD RIVERBED
GOOD NEWS - FOUND WATER
BETTER NEWS - LOTS OF WATER
BAD NEWS - NOT WATERPROO…#%$&#… Bzzzzzzzzzzzt
NASA: DAMN!!!!!!!
Mars Rover Communicating at 10 bits per second! - by TheNarrator (Score: 5, Funny) Thread
Wow.. That’s a little more than one ascii character per second… I can see the bits coming down now: A…L…I…E…N…A…T…T…A…C…K
NO CARRIER
[via AlterSlash]
A NEW HOPE ON THE HORIZON
Posted 15 Jan 2004 00:00:00 UTC
Posted 15 Jan 2004 00:00:00 UTC
The brand new HOPE site has begun to take form. Our fifth conference is scheduled for July 9th through 11th in New York City at the Hotel Pennsylvania (where the last conference was). In the very near future, there will be speaker info, a WIKI update center, registration info, mailing lists, and a way for you to put forth your ideas for panels, projects, contests, and other fun stuff. We have a huge amount of space in the middle of Manhattan directly across the street from Penn Station. Ask anyone who went to H2K2 how much fun they had and then ask yourself if you really want to miss out this time around when we plan on making it even better. We will announce major updates on the 2600 page. But keep checking the HOPE site as we add stuff from this point on.
[via 2600.com]
'HOMELAND SECURITY' TOWN HALL MEETINGS TO BE HELD
Posted 2 Dec 2003 07:30:18 UTC
"Homeland Security" is a phrase that's been bandied about quite a bit over the past couple of years. We've recently learned of a series of The meetings are sponsored by the "Council for Excellence in Government," and are entitled "Homeland Security from the Citizens' Perspective." There is a meeting in Miami on Tuesday, December 9th, with meetings planned for San Diego, Houston, Lexington (Kentucky), and Seattle early next year, and in Rochester, NY, on a date not yet announced. All meetings are sponsored by large corporations which presumably hope to profit from the Department of Homeland Security's huge budget. In contrast to meetings held by Attorney General John Ashcroft, these meetings are open to the public. If you wish to attend the Miami meeting, which will be at 1pm on the campus of Miami-Dade college, you must RSVP at the Council for Excellence's website. Confusingly, this link is nowhere to be found on the page listing the town hall meetings. Presumably, it will be possible to register for future meetings as their dates approach. One meeting was already held in St. Louis, Missouri, on October 8th. Only a small portion of the meeting was dedicated to "Privacy and Security," despite the horrible abuses that the USA PATRIOT act makes possible. Secretary Ridge argued that the mere existence of a privacy office within his Department ought to allay concerns, despite the fact that that office is headed by Nuala O'Connor Kelly, formerly of the privacy-unfriendly Internet advertising firm DoubleClick. If any 2600 readers are able to attend the Miami meeting or any future meetings, we'd encourage, as always, the asking of critical questions. We would also love it if you could let us know your experiences. Town Hall Meetings
to be held with a number of important players in the arena, including Tom Ridge, the Secretary of the Homeland Security Department.
[via 2600.com]
Conspiracy: Is
Mars all about the Oil?
Posted by: Yossarian on Jan 20, 2004 - 05:37 PM 
on earth, I thought some time ago about why it must be so prevalent in deserts, tundras and some aquatic environments. At this point in the earth's biological history, the lifeforce of those wasteland areas has been placed into a type of hydrocarbon storage. Which humanity of course carelessly tears through like there will be no tomorrow.
So if Mars once had life, being a wasteland now, couldn't it be holding a lot of oil? And upon hearing of the High Cabal's plans to put their men on Mars, and knowing of their thirst for petroleum, could it be possible that they know something they aren't telling us?
I found this NASA article from 2000, about the future of prospecting for fossil fuels on Mars
And then this 2001 article on Petroleum News, indicating oil company involvement!
Looks to me like another attempted scam by the private sector to get taxpayers to pay for their access to natural resources, this time through NASA rather than the DoD.
-Yossarian
[via Memes.org]
Dislike the war? So did they. Guess what? Our troops hate the world, and want to die. According to this story, our troops are killing themselves in record numbers.
[via CULT OF THE DEAD COW]
More bad taste... No one laughed much at my last joke, so I decided to try again: What's red and has more brains than Kurt Cobain? The wall behind him.
[via CULT OF THE DEAD COW]
Thursday, January 22, 2004
Letter from Bobbye Finkelstein
I just found this message in the old FlyDLUX sales account. It's from one of my least favorite clients from FlyDLUX, Bobbye Finkelstein. No matter what we did, even when flights went through for Jennifer Link and Bobbye Finkelstein, it was never good enough. But my posting of this letter shows two things: A) That even Rabbi's own family was affected by this, and who wants to screw one's own family? and B) Bobbye Finkelstein is a moron.
----- Original Message -----
From: Bobbye Finkelstein
To: FlyDLUX
Sent: Tuesday, January 20, 2004 12:18 PM
Subject: 10 months and counting
Rabbi,
since I wired you $4,000 into your PERSONAL account at Wachovia Bank, Larry, for ticket vouchers on American Airlines. Again, I ask where our returned funds are, which now total more than $5,000, with your bogus promises of $839.00 reimbursement for New York tickets last June and your bogus promise of 2 international tickets, gratis? I will assume that after being evicted for non-payment of rent that our money was not used to pay for your housing, so how did you spend our $5,000?
Loved the news footage of you slinking away and your latke, Mark Hopkins perfecting the art of the lie.
What goes around comes around, Rabbi.
Bobbye:
First of all, you didn't wire $4,000 into a personal account of Rabbi's at Wachovia Bank. Rabbi didn't have a personal account at Wachovia Bank. We had two business accounts there.
Secondly, the two international tickets, gratis obviously would be contingent on the company being in business. Obviously it is not.
Thirdly, we were not evicted for non-payment of rent. We simply moved out of the Woodbury when we realized we were not going to be able to make the next months payment. There was no eviction. It was a month to month contract.
Fourth, and finally, like it says on the website and in every public statement we've issued, dear moron, the $5,000 went to James Anthony Wimmer. Ask him what he did with the money. He was who we were buying tickets from. He didn't produce the tickets. I saw the wires, and the copies of the wires are available on the internet, currently. If you weren't such a retarded duck, you would have found this out yourself. That you believe everything you see on TV is very telling about what your intelligence level is.
Additionally, I'd be curious to know exactly how this math works out: $4,000 + $839 > $5,000.
Finally, if you ever call me a latke (did you mean lackey?) again in public or in private and it reaches my eyes and ears, expect another public spanking like this one on my website.
I say to you good day.
/rizzn
----- Original Message -----
From: Bobbye Finkelstein
To: FlyDLUX
Sent: Tuesday, January 20, 2004 12:18 PM
Subject: 10 months and counting
Rabbi,
since I wired you $4,000 into your PERSONAL account at Wachovia Bank, Larry, for ticket vouchers on American Airlines. Again, I ask where our returned funds are, which now total more than $5,000, with your bogus promises of $839.00 reimbursement for New York tickets last June and your bogus promise of 2 international tickets, gratis? I will assume that after being evicted for non-payment of rent that our money was not used to pay for your housing, so how did you spend our $5,000?
Loved the news footage of you slinking away and your latke, Mark Hopkins perfecting the art of the lie.
What goes around comes around, Rabbi.
Bobbye:
First of all, you didn't wire $4,000 into a personal account of Rabbi's at Wachovia Bank. Rabbi didn't have a personal account at Wachovia Bank. We had two business accounts there.
Secondly, the two international tickets, gratis obviously would be contingent on the company being in business. Obviously it is not.
Thirdly, we were not evicted for non-payment of rent. We simply moved out of the Woodbury when we realized we were not going to be able to make the next months payment. There was no eviction. It was a month to month contract.
Fourth, and finally, like it says on the website and in every public statement we've issued, dear moron, the $5,000 went to James Anthony Wimmer. Ask him what he did with the money. He was who we were buying tickets from. He didn't produce the tickets. I saw the wires, and the copies of the wires are available on the internet, currently. If you weren't such a retarded duck, you would have found this out yourself. That you believe everything you see on TV is very telling about what your intelligence level is.
Additionally, I'd be curious to know exactly how this math works out: $4,000 + $839 > $5,000.
Finally, if you ever call me a latke (did you mean lackey?) again in public or in private and it reaches my eyes and ears, expect another public spanking like this one on my website.
I say to you good day.
/rizzn
Mine The Moon For Helium-3
Posted by timothy on Wednesday January 21, @05:13PM
from the imperative-voice dept.
Rob Kennedy writes "A story at The Daily Cardinal is reporting that UW-Madison researchers are looking to mine the moon for helium-3 as an energy source, which supposedly would yield about 1000 times more energy per pound than coal. Although there are several hurdles that would need to be cleared, The Associated Press mentions one catch in particular: 'The researchers still are working on building a helium-3 reactor that would produce more energy than it takes in.' Indeed. SciScoop has a more in-depth discussion of the prospect."
Very informative comment off of SciScoop by RickyJames
Kulcinski and FTI have presented a graduate course entitled "Resources From Space" in 1996 [wisc.edu], 1997 [wisc.edu], 1999 [wisc.edu] and 2001 [wisc.edu], taught by a variety of instructors including Harrison Schmitt. Each of these have extensive notes and pdf files online, and probably are the best sources for data on the Internet on the topic of using lunar resources for energy. These two guys are the leading proponents of helium-3 use; if anybody is going to make a good case for this, it's them.
The key factor is the dilute nature of the helium-3 in the lunar regolith, and all the other stuff that's mixed in there with it. Schmitt estimates on page 19 of lecture 10 in the 2001 course that the He3 abundance is "up to 30 ppb" or 30 parts-per-Billion-with-a-B in the top 10 feet of lunar soil. Also embedded in the lunar soil is 30-180 parts-per-Million-with-an-M of hydrogen and 30 parts-per-Million-with-an-M of normal helium or He2.
So, say you want a ton of helium-3 from the Moon. You've only got to do two things.
Step one, heat up 1,000,000,000 / 30 = 33,333,333 tons of lunar soil. That's a lot of dirt and a lot of heat. All of the hydrogen and helium gas in the soil is baked off and captured. You get 2001 tons of hydrogen and helium - 1000 tons of hydrogen gas, 1000 tons of helium gas, and one ton of helium-3 gas.
Step two, you've got to separate the ton of helium-3 you want to ship back to Earth from the 2000 tons of normal helium and hydrogen you don't. Getting the hydrogen out is relatively easy; just combine it with lunar oxygen to make water. Try to avoid a titanic explosion in the process. Separating that one-in-a-thousand helium atom you want from the helium that's left, though, is hard. It's the same problem faced with the Manhattan Project people trying to separate the U-235 uranium atoms that could make a bomb from the U-238 uranium atoms that couldn't. You'd have to recreate wartime Oak Ridge isotope separation plants on the moon - and those aren't going to be built from lunar material, I assure you.
As a point of interest, coal strip mines in the West get out 25 tons of coal for ever manhour of labor used. By this criteria digging up 33 million tons of moondirt per year would take 1.32 million manhours of labor. At 2000 manhours per year, that's a required crew of 660 miners for one ton of He3 per year.
You say we need 30 tons of He3 per year - that's the equivalent of 20,000 miners moving as much moondust around as the entire U.S. coal mining industry mines in coal in a year. I know, I know - the situation isn't comparable, NASA would create a super-automated unmanned bulldozer fleet, etc. etc. Running on what? Costing what? Getting to the moon how? None of these are impossible factors, only impractical ones.
Then, there's the question if a fusion reactor could ever be built that would use helium-3. Sure, it sounds good. But we haven't even built a deuterium fusion reactor yet, and the physics of that is a LOT easier than getting a helium-3 reactor to work. In the 1950s fission reactors were going to be cheap and simple, too. Remember "electricity too cheap to meter"?
I dunno, Sylvia. It sure sounds good to say, here comes this shuttle with a one ton can of helium-3 on board back from space that's landing on the runway to solve all of our problems (for two weeks - you need 30 tons per year, remember?), wave the flag and strike up the band. But when you look at what it takes in infrastructure to get that helium in the can on the moon, and what kind of infrastructure you're going to pour it into once the can is offloaded and the band's gone home, well, it's just not quite so attractive to investors. Especially as long as they know they can easily scrape coal off of surface mines in the West and easily poke holes in the ground in the Arabian penensula for the next 500 years and KNOW coal and oil is going to be there.
And it will. We've got plenty of coal and oil to last for centuries, and plenty of conservatives who say global warming and greenhouse gases are liberal myths. Potentially dangerous combination.
AP, I know you're going to read this - referee me here, keep me honest....
Posted by timothy on Wednesday January 21, @05:13PM
from the imperative-voice dept.
Rob Kennedy writes "A story at The Daily Cardinal is reporting that UW-Madison researchers are looking to mine the moon for helium-3 as an energy source, which supposedly would yield about 1000 times more energy per pound than coal. Although there are several hurdles that would need to be cleared, The Associated Press mentions one catch in particular: 'The researchers still are working on building a helium-3 reactor that would produce more energy than it takes in.' Indeed. SciScoop has a more in-depth discussion of the prospect."
Very informative comment off of SciScoop by RickyJames
Kulcinski and FTI have presented a graduate course entitled "Resources From Space" in 1996 [wisc.edu], 1997 [wisc.edu], 1999 [wisc.edu] and 2001 [wisc.edu], taught by a variety of instructors including Harrison Schmitt. Each of these have extensive notes and pdf files online, and probably are the best sources for data on the Internet on the topic of using lunar resources for energy. These two guys are the leading proponents of helium-3 use; if anybody is going to make a good case for this, it's them.
The key factor is the dilute nature of the helium-3 in the lunar regolith, and all the other stuff that's mixed in there with it. Schmitt estimates on page 19 of lecture 10 in the 2001 course that the He3 abundance is "up to 30 ppb" or 30 parts-per-Billion-with-a-B in the top 10 feet of lunar soil. Also embedded in the lunar soil is 30-180 parts-per-Million-with-an-M of hydrogen and 30 parts-per-Million-with-an-M of normal helium or He2.
So, say you want a ton of helium-3 from the Moon. You've only got to do two things.
Step one, heat up 1,000,000,000 / 30 = 33,333,333 tons of lunar soil. That's a lot of dirt and a lot of heat. All of the hydrogen and helium gas in the soil is baked off and captured. You get 2001 tons of hydrogen and helium - 1000 tons of hydrogen gas, 1000 tons of helium gas, and one ton of helium-3 gas.
Step two, you've got to separate the ton of helium-3 you want to ship back to Earth from the 2000 tons of normal helium and hydrogen you don't. Getting the hydrogen out is relatively easy; just combine it with lunar oxygen to make water. Try to avoid a titanic explosion in the process. Separating that one-in-a-thousand helium atom you want from the helium that's left, though, is hard. It's the same problem faced with the Manhattan Project people trying to separate the U-235 uranium atoms that could make a bomb from the U-238 uranium atoms that couldn't. You'd have to recreate wartime Oak Ridge isotope separation plants on the moon - and those aren't going to be built from lunar material, I assure you.
As a point of interest, coal strip mines in the West get out 25 tons of coal for ever manhour of labor used. By this criteria digging up 33 million tons of moondirt per year would take 1.32 million manhours of labor. At 2000 manhours per year, that's a required crew of 660 miners for one ton of He3 per year.
You say we need 30 tons of He3 per year - that's the equivalent of 20,000 miners moving as much moondust around as the entire U.S. coal mining industry mines in coal in a year. I know, I know - the situation isn't comparable, NASA would create a super-automated unmanned bulldozer fleet, etc. etc. Running on what? Costing what? Getting to the moon how? None of these are impossible factors, only impractical ones.
Then, there's the question if a fusion reactor could ever be built that would use helium-3. Sure, it sounds good. But we haven't even built a deuterium fusion reactor yet, and the physics of that is a LOT easier than getting a helium-3 reactor to work. In the 1950s fission reactors were going to be cheap and simple, too. Remember "electricity too cheap to meter"?
I dunno, Sylvia. It sure sounds good to say, here comes this shuttle with a one ton can of helium-3 on board back from space that's landing on the runway to solve all of our problems (for two weeks - you need 30 tons per year, remember?), wave the flag and strike up the band. But when you look at what it takes in infrastructure to get that helium in the can on the moon, and what kind of infrastructure you're going to pour it into once the can is offloaded and the band's gone home, well, it's just not quite so attractive to investors. Especially as long as they know they can easily scrape coal off of surface mines in the West and easily poke holes in the ground in the Arabian penensula for the next 500 years and KNOW coal and oil is going to be there.
And it will. We've got plenty of coal and oil to last for centuries, and plenty of conservatives who say global warming and greenhouse gases are liberal myths. Potentially dangerous combination.
AP, I know you're going to read this - referee me here, keep me honest....
Organic light emitting devices could lay groundwork for future generations of bendable TV, computer, cellphone screens
Jan. 20, 2004 -- In the future, powering up your laptop may require that you unroll it first.
Engineers at the University of Toronto [profile] are the first Canadian team to construct flexible organic light emitting devices (FOLEDs), technology that could lay the groundwork for future generations of bendable television, computer and cellphone screens. "It opens up a whole new range of possibilities for the future," says Zheng-Hong Lu, a professor in U of T's Department of Materials Science and Engineering. "Imagine a room with electronic wallpaper programmed to display a series of Van Gogh paintings, or a reusable electronic newspaper that could download and display the day's news and be rolled up after use."
Read Article (Source: University of Toronto)
"Wise men make proverbs, but fools repeat them."
- Samuel Palmer
Tuesday, January 20, 2004
Both Civil and Military Needs Driving European UAV Market
San Jose - Jan 07, 2004
Recent military developments and the United States' inclination to use unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) is expanding the global market for these systems and accelerating the development of such specialised weapons in Europe, reveal latest findings by Frost & Sullivan.
Over the last two decades, the propensity for small-scale, low-intensity conflicts (LIC) has increased dramatically worldwide. As various armies participate in more expeditionary roles in overlapping geographic areas and use interoperable systems, seamless information sharing has become vital.
"UAVs play a key role in the run for battlespace information dominance and will be increasingly present in future conflicts," notes Shai Shammai, Research Analyst at Frost & Sullivan. "Their strongest selling point is probably their endurance capability of quietly loitering over targets for over 24 hours."
Another strong appeal to the military sector is the ability of the technology to enable remote fighting, reducing the number of troops in the front line. With better viewing and launching angles than helicopters, modern UAVs are more accurate and cause less collateral damage.
In Europe, the United Kingdom, France, Germany and Italy will invest most heavily in UAVs. France, Germany and Israel already hosts some of the leading UAV manufacturers such as Elbit, IAI, Sagem SA, EADS and Dassault Aviation, and is gearing up for the next generation of UAVs.
The European aggregated military UAV budget is expected to reach around EUR 5.5 billion between 2003 and 2012.
"This is a clear indication of a market willing to rely on UAV solutions. Application-wise, the market is moving into tactical UAVs (TUAVs) and lethal UAVs (LUAVs), and possibly high-altitude long-endurance (HALE) UAVs and unmanned combat aerial vehicles (UCAVs)," reports Shammai.
European manufacturers lag far behind their US competitors and the largest gap lies within the HALE UAVs and UCAV segments. While the United States already has an operational HALE system, the Global Hawk, Europe is yet to develop any corresponding application. With respect to UCVAs, the United States invests heavily in these applications and expected to have an operational application by the end of the decade. Europe is engage in a couple of project yet not in the same level of intensity.
With the realisation that unmanned aircraft form the aerial weapons of the future, the United Kingdom might abandon its plans to acquire more Eurofighters and instead increase focus on developing UAV based capabilities.
There are high expectations from the commercial and civil markets for UAVs in Europe. In civil and commercial applications, UAVs are deemed capable of replacing manned aircraft as well as some ground and satellite applications.
In the commercial market, increasing potential client awareness of these novel applications and developing business models that eliminate initial high investments can drive up market revenues. The introduction of a pay per usage (PPU) model, for example, allows customers to pay only for flying hours instead of requiring a purchase of the system.
The commercial market is also application-led, where customers are more interested in cost-effective value additions than the technology itself. Hence, UAV manufacturers need to focus on comprehensive solutions with short investments cycles. Initially, the demand market is likely to be dominated by big companies such as oil majors that operate in remote non-urban environments and have potentially fast payback times.
In the civil markets, most UAV deployments are expected to be intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) applications. The challenge for manufacturers would be to introduce downgraded, cheaper military applications. The growing focus on homeland security solutions is the main revenue driver as the European Union expands and new ISR needs emerge.
The demand for HALE UAVs for maritime surveillance is also expected to grow with Europe's need to monitor its coastline for security and environmental protection. Potential applications for UAVs include wildfire monitoring, illegal fishery monitoring and swifter oil spill discovery.
San Jose - Jan 07, 2004
Recent military developments and the United States' inclination to use unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) is expanding the global market for these systems and accelerating the development of such specialised weapons in Europe, reveal latest findings by Frost & Sullivan.
Over the last two decades, the propensity for small-scale, low-intensity conflicts (LIC) has increased dramatically worldwide. As various armies participate in more expeditionary roles in overlapping geographic areas and use interoperable systems, seamless information sharing has become vital.
"UAVs play a key role in the run for battlespace information dominance and will be increasingly present in future conflicts," notes Shai Shammai, Research Analyst at Frost & Sullivan. "Their strongest selling point is probably their endurance capability of quietly loitering over targets for over 24 hours."
Another strong appeal to the military sector is the ability of the technology to enable remote fighting, reducing the number of troops in the front line. With better viewing and launching angles than helicopters, modern UAVs are more accurate and cause less collateral damage.
In Europe, the United Kingdom, France, Germany and Italy will invest most heavily in UAVs. France, Germany and Israel already hosts some of the leading UAV manufacturers such as Elbit, IAI, Sagem SA, EADS and Dassault Aviation, and is gearing up for the next generation of UAVs.
The European aggregated military UAV budget is expected to reach around EUR 5.5 billion between 2003 and 2012.
"This is a clear indication of a market willing to rely on UAV solutions. Application-wise, the market is moving into tactical UAVs (TUAVs) and lethal UAVs (LUAVs), and possibly high-altitude long-endurance (HALE) UAVs and unmanned combat aerial vehicles (UCAVs)," reports Shammai.
European manufacturers lag far behind their US competitors and the largest gap lies within the HALE UAVs and UCAV segments. While the United States already has an operational HALE system, the Global Hawk, Europe is yet to develop any corresponding application. With respect to UCVAs, the United States invests heavily in these applications and expected to have an operational application by the end of the decade. Europe is engage in a couple of project yet not in the same level of intensity.
With the realisation that unmanned aircraft form the aerial weapons of the future, the United Kingdom might abandon its plans to acquire more Eurofighters and instead increase focus on developing UAV based capabilities.
There are high expectations from the commercial and civil markets for UAVs in Europe. In civil and commercial applications, UAVs are deemed capable of replacing manned aircraft as well as some ground and satellite applications.
In the commercial market, increasing potential client awareness of these novel applications and developing business models that eliminate initial high investments can drive up market revenues. The introduction of a pay per usage (PPU) model, for example, allows customers to pay only for flying hours instead of requiring a purchase of the system.
The commercial market is also application-led, where customers are more interested in cost-effective value additions than the technology itself. Hence, UAV manufacturers need to focus on comprehensive solutions with short investments cycles. Initially, the demand market is likely to be dominated by big companies such as oil majors that operate in remote non-urban environments and have potentially fast payback times.
In the civil markets, most UAV deployments are expected to be intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) applications. The challenge for manufacturers would be to introduce downgraded, cheaper military applications. The growing focus on homeland security solutions is the main revenue driver as the European Union expands and new ISR needs emerge.
The demand for HALE UAVs for maritime surveillance is also expected to grow with Europe's need to monitor its coastline for security and environmental protection. Potential applications for UAVs include wildfire monitoring, illegal fishery monitoring and swifter oil spill discovery.
Horrible News from the FlyDLUX front.
I got a memo today informing me thusly:
"...I also spoke with Rabbi M---- B----- today. Not good news. The Orthodox Union is bringing him up on charges of conspiring with FlyDLUX to defraud congregants and organizations out of money for tickets that don't exist!"
"The scoundral Kellman from the Kollel is leading the charge against M----. This would divest M---- of his positions in A----- as rabbi of his synagogue and head of the Vad, the board that certifies food kosher in his region and the agency that employs his wife as an inspector."
This is outrageous. This man did nothing wrong -- he didn't defraud congregants, the accusations are baseless, and I hope Rabbi Kellman reaps exactly what he sows in this endeavor. It is HIS greedy and malicious actions that caused the problems for Rabbi B----- in the first place.
If Rabbi B----- is guilty of anything, it's having too big of a heart. He saw an opportunity with FlyDLUX to get people to Israel for cheap, reuniting families and the like. It was simply unfortunate (for all of us involved, but Rabbi B----- and those like him especially) that Tony was a greedy theiving bastard who decided to take everyone's money and not produce any tickets.
Very soon, I'm reposting all the FlyDLUX Tony Tapes, with highlights on the ones that indicate what Rabbi B-----'s and Tony's involvement was -- what will be shown is that Tony is the culpable party, and Rabbi B----- had nothing to do with defrauding anyone.
/rizzn
"...I also spoke with Rabbi M---- B----- today. Not good news. The Orthodox Union is bringing him up on charges of conspiring with FlyDLUX to defraud congregants and organizations out of money for tickets that don't exist!"
"The scoundral Kellman from the Kollel is leading the charge against M----. This would divest M---- of his positions in A----- as rabbi of his synagogue and head of the Vad, the board that certifies food kosher in his region and the agency that employs his wife as an inspector."
This is outrageous. This man did nothing wrong -- he didn't defraud congregants, the accusations are baseless, and I hope Rabbi Kellman reaps exactly what he sows in this endeavor. It is HIS greedy and malicious actions that caused the problems for Rabbi B----- in the first place.
If Rabbi B----- is guilty of anything, it's having too big of a heart. He saw an opportunity with FlyDLUX to get people to Israel for cheap, reuniting families and the like. It was simply unfortunate (for all of us involved, but Rabbi B----- and those like him especially) that Tony was a greedy theiving bastard who decided to take everyone's money and not produce any tickets.
Very soon, I'm reposting all the FlyDLUX Tony Tapes, with highlights on the ones that indicate what Rabbi B-----'s and Tony's involvement was -- what will be shown is that Tony is the culpable party, and Rabbi B----- had nothing to do with defrauding anyone.
/rizzn
Interesting!
theempathogen (2:55:37 AM): oddly enough, I've never seen the first half of titanic.
theempathogen (2:55:46 AM): only the second half twice. no love story, only mayhem.
theempathogen (2:55:37 AM): oddly enough, I've never seen the first half of titanic.
theempathogen (2:55:46 AM): only the second half twice. no love story, only mayhem.
Torque
I saw Torque last night. It was good. Albert, from the office, and I went to go see it. It was like Fast and the Furious, but on motorcycles.
Also, I enjoyed the fact that it didn't take itself seriously.
Mostly, I just enjoyed the fact that all the vehicles in the movie went really fast, and all the girls in the movie were really hot. I can remember the story if you press the issue, but the story wasn't really the strong point of the movie.
I really liked the bad guy's girlfriend. She reminds me of the girl from That 80's Show, the one named Monday. Yes, I'm one of the five people in America who watched that series. I'm probably the ONLY person in America who saved them to DivX format.
What can I say ... the TV punk girl turned me on.
I'm tired now. I'm going to go sleep.
Also, I enjoyed the fact that it didn't take itself seriously.
Mostly, I just enjoyed the fact that all the vehicles in the movie went really fast, and all the girls in the movie were really hot. I can remember the story if you press the issue, but the story wasn't really the strong point of the movie.
I really liked the bad guy's girlfriend. She reminds me of the girl from That 80's Show, the one named Monday. Yes, I'm one of the five people in America who watched that series. I'm probably the ONLY person in America who saved them to DivX format.
What can I say ... the TV punk girl turned me on.
I'm tired now. I'm going to go sleep.
Monday, January 19, 2004
Insane Wanking
» From the Masturbation Department
"Dr. Abelsohn, a general practitioner who was experienced only in much less intense marital and family counselling, has abjectly admitted to being far from the best therapist [for a woman with borderline personality disorder]... Because he found himself concentrating on each immediate crisis at hand, and the woman presented him with new ones almost daily, Dr. Abelsohn lost his ability to see or understand that there was a telling pattern unfolding in their sessions and that, in some significant regards, the patient was dictating what would happen in his office. As a result, he has admitted, he agreed first to give her 'supportive' hugs at the end of sessions, then 'cradling' hugs where he would put his arms around her as they sat on the floor, then to allow her to direct his hand to touch various ostensibly soiled or abused parts of her body. Ultimately, on six occasions, he yielded to her insistent demands that she be allowed to masturbate on the floor of his office. The picture he has painted of this strange scene - she lying down and stimulating herself while he sat miserably beside her, looking over and past her to the window, knowing in his heart it was inappropriate but unable to put a stop to it, and the two of them discussing afterwards how in her words the process had been helpful in erasing previous painful sexual experiences for her - was oddly compelling." - The Globe and Mail (Canada)
If you have ever had to deal with a mentally unhealthy individual, you know how difficult the situation can become. Precisely because the person is unhealthy, he or she can make insane demands on you, and can be so insistent on those demands that eventually you start to feel as though they threaten your own sanity as well. You start to feel harrassed, invaded, controlled, threatened, and consequently you might give in to certain demands just to buy a little respite from the onslaught of insanity.
In a way, this is a normal dynamic - but what happens when the demands are of a sexual nature and the "you" in this story is a health-care provider sworn to abide by certain standards of conduct? How much aggression can a doctor withstand before his professional propriety cracks and reveals his own personality, naked and raw, struggling in self-defense like an animal?
This case unfolding in Canada represents a really fascinating example of the everyday psychopathology of the mental health-care worker. The doctor himself admits that he may not have been equal to the task of caring for this raging lunatic - and to describe her as "raging" is probably underestimating her. In addition to her daily crises, she took to stalking the doctor and his girlfriend. She claimed he was "perpetually erect" around her, which hardly seems likely since he suffers from a longstanding erectile dysfunction. Moreover, wanting to masturbate in his arms was certainly taking psychological "transference" a bit too far.
However, other doctors have probably coped with the same extreme behavior in disturbed patients, thus the question at issue in this case is this: Was the doctor simply unqualified to deal with her? Did his professional code of ethics weaken in the face of the understandable need to appease her rampaging demands? Or did he, as the prosecution alleges, encourage her autoerotic behavior? Did he derive some sexual titillation from her obsession, her exhibitionism, her onanism?
In most cases, you'd be inclined to take the cynical view and say yes - yes, he did get off on it. But given the unreliability of the patient here, given her aggressive behavior, and given that the doctor kept one hundred pages of notes detailing her disintegrating "therapy" - which would be self-incriminating were he really seducing her - people seem inclined to believe that he is innocent, or rather that all he is guilty of is professional incompetence. The jury is still out, but this looks like a case in which it is the patient who more or less raped the doctor.
» From the Masturbation Department
"Dr. Abelsohn, a general practitioner who was experienced only in much less intense marital and family counselling, has abjectly admitted to being far from the best therapist [for a woman with borderline personality disorder]... Because he found himself concentrating on each immediate crisis at hand, and the woman presented him with new ones almost daily, Dr. Abelsohn lost his ability to see or understand that there was a telling pattern unfolding in their sessions and that, in some significant regards, the patient was dictating what would happen in his office. As a result, he has admitted, he agreed first to give her 'supportive' hugs at the end of sessions, then 'cradling' hugs where he would put his arms around her as they sat on the floor, then to allow her to direct his hand to touch various ostensibly soiled or abused parts of her body. Ultimately, on six occasions, he yielded to her insistent demands that she be allowed to masturbate on the floor of his office. The picture he has painted of this strange scene - she lying down and stimulating herself while he sat miserably beside her, looking over and past her to the window, knowing in his heart it was inappropriate but unable to put a stop to it, and the two of them discussing afterwards how in her words the process had been helpful in erasing previous painful sexual experiences for her - was oddly compelling." - The Globe and Mail (Canada)
If you have ever had to deal with a mentally unhealthy individual, you know how difficult the situation can become. Precisely because the person is unhealthy, he or she can make insane demands on you, and can be so insistent on those demands that eventually you start to feel as though they threaten your own sanity as well. You start to feel harrassed, invaded, controlled, threatened, and consequently you might give in to certain demands just to buy a little respite from the onslaught of insanity.
In a way, this is a normal dynamic - but what happens when the demands are of a sexual nature and the "you" in this story is a health-care provider sworn to abide by certain standards of conduct? How much aggression can a doctor withstand before his professional propriety cracks and reveals his own personality, naked and raw, struggling in self-defense like an animal?
This case unfolding in Canada represents a really fascinating example of the everyday psychopathology of the mental health-care worker. The doctor himself admits that he may not have been equal to the task of caring for this raging lunatic - and to describe her as "raging" is probably underestimating her. In addition to her daily crises, she took to stalking the doctor and his girlfriend. She claimed he was "perpetually erect" around her, which hardly seems likely since he suffers from a longstanding erectile dysfunction. Moreover, wanting to masturbate in his arms was certainly taking psychological "transference" a bit too far.
However, other doctors have probably coped with the same extreme behavior in disturbed patients, thus the question at issue in this case is this: Was the doctor simply unqualified to deal with her? Did his professional code of ethics weaken in the face of the understandable need to appease her rampaging demands? Or did he, as the prosecution alleges, encourage her autoerotic behavior? Did he derive some sexual titillation from her obsession, her exhibitionism, her onanism?
In most cases, you'd be inclined to take the cynical view and say yes - yes, he did get off on it. But given the unreliability of the patient here, given her aggressive behavior, and given that the doctor kept one hundred pages of notes detailing her disintegrating "therapy" - which would be self-incriminating were he really seducing her - people seem inclined to believe that he is innocent, or rather that all he is guilty of is professional incompetence. The jury is still out, but this looks like a case in which it is the patient who more or less raped the doctor.
[ via PervScan ]
[ rizzn's notes: I can understand the degenerating infectious insanity described in the commentary -- more than one of my relationships has threatened my sanity. The only reason I retain what I call sanity is because of a) my ability to seperate myself from what is happening to me and look at things objectively -- a mindset I have become painfully aware that most people don't posess, and b) knowing when to say enough is enough and end all contact with the situation causing the problem.
To me, it would seem that it is easier for a professional to do this sort of thing than someone who is in a relationship with a demanding mentally ill person -- he can simply refuse to see the patient if he feels it is going to a place he can't control (or refer the patient to another provider). But then again, I don't know the details of the doctor's financial situation, or if it was a mandatory patient of some kind. ]
To me, it would seem that it is easier for a professional to do this sort of thing than someone who is in a relationship with a demanding mentally ill person -- he can simply refuse to see the patient if he feels it is going to a place he can't control (or refer the patient to another provider). But then again, I don't know the details of the doctor's financial situation, or if it was a mandatory patient of some kind. ]
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